Will Girling Blog

Often, we can feel like we’re having sufficient calories and getting ample rest but still, somehow feel tired and fatigued. The bike just doesn’t feel great and you can’t put your finger on why!

A common overlooked culprit could be “Iron”

What is it?

Iron is required for the formation of oxygen-carrying proteins, haemoglobin and myoglobin, and for enzymes involved in energy production. Oxygen- carrying capacity is essential for endurance exercise as well as normal function of the nervous, behavioural, and immune systems.

What does it mean?

Iron depletion (low iron stores) is one of the most prevalent nutrient deficiencies observed among athletes, especially females. Iron deficiency, with or without anaemia, can impair muscle function and limit work capacity. Iron requirements for endurance athletes, especially distance runners, are increased by approximately 70%.

It would be worth noting athletes who are vegetarian or regular blood donors should aim for an iron intake greater than their respective RDA (i.e., 18 mg and 8 mg, for men and women respectively).

Interesting –

A 4-6-week supplementation or focused higher intake of Iron has also seen an increase in performance in general in endurance sport. But reading this you shouldn’t immediately go out and get a supplement, opting for a natural source like below or increased green vegetable intake is a good start as well as seeing your GP for a blood test if you haven’t in a while.

Recipe –

Using an iron supplement is an easy way to get your daily requirement of iron but you can get it naturally to through meats and offal but for the vegans out there it can be harder so trying something like

Here’s a recipe for a simple addition to your day to add ~9mg of Iron to your day in an organic way

The word protein is thrown about a lot in sport, fat loss and most nutritional topics to be honest, there Is a wide array of foods that can fulfil your daily quota of protein. BUT sometimes it’s nice to get a snapshot of why we need it and an easy recipe that will enable you increase your daily intake!

How much do we need?

If looking at daily amounts as active individuals we should be having anything between 1.6-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. The more active you are the higher I would go on that scale and likewise if you’re on the journey of fat loss.

This is because protein aids in the recovery of muscle and cells within our body and in the preservation of lean muscle mass when in a calorie deficit (which is needed in fat loss)

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive, not having any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Getting on track and heading towards your fitness/health/fat loss goals can be daunting especially when you have no idea where to start, so making this journey as easy as possible is paramount to your success but also your enjoyment of the process.

Here are 6 simple things that you can do;

Walk – One of the biggest factors on our energy expenditure is our “non-exercise activity”. This is everything you do that isn’t specific exercise, so walking to the bus or train, walking around at the office or at lunch etc. If 1000 steps equate to around 50Kcals then if you increased your daily step count by 2000 steps at the end of the week you would have burnt an extra 700Kcals. And all you had to do was to walk a bit more.

Track your food – This is a big one! If you want to lose body fat having an idea of where you are calorie-wise is important. Without getting too technical about the ratios of what you’re having, if you start tracking your food and realise your weight/ measurements aren’t dropping then look at your average intake over a week and reduce it by 100-200kcals per day and you should see further loss – that is If you exercise stays consistent 🙂

Do exercise you enjoy – Too often people believe running or other various forms of exercise are the best for “fat loss” but honestly the best is the one you’re going to enjoy and consistently keep doing

Eat protein – Protein at every meal helps with the retention of muscle when in a calorie deficit – something you must be in to lose fat – as nobody wants to lose the muscle they have! It is also highly satiating meaning when you’re in that calorie deficit you feel less hungry, the hungrier you are the harder it is to adhere to you diet and stay on track.

Drink Water – The principal of all life and performance and fat loss. The process of breaking fat down is done through something called hydrolysis, and as you may guess that process requires water, and is performed much more efficiently in a hydrated state. You want to perform well in the exercise you’ve chosen, whether it’s faster or stronger and hydration has a massive impact on that with being dehydrated as little 2% seeing a significant decrease in performance.

De-stress – Sometimes we set our goals and we’re smashing our workouts, eating well and for some reason you’re not dropping weight, or your stomach has reduced in circumference and in the end, you feel like giving up! Well it can be so easy to forget but being stressed can cause us to retain huge amounts of water thus feeling like you’re not making progress! Think about your week; think about how much sleep you’ve had; how’s work? The best way to de-stress is to ensure you’re getting those 7-8 hours of sleep; meditate; take time for yourself; organise your diary.

All of these can help you de-stress and you may find a bunch of that water-weight coming off.

The commonness and appearance of stomach issues while competing in endurance sport is a problematic one. It can easily turn an enjoyable brick session into an unpleasant one or put you in a sticky situation in your race. But there is light at the end of the tunnel!!

If we can understand the principles of how much and how often we can take on carbohydrate as well as the variables that can affect gastro-intestinal discomfort (GID), we can easily solve these issues.

Why?

Understanding the “why” for needing to take on carbohydrate is possibly the most important pillar the in foundation of whether you feel you “should” or “should not” eat.

Here we can easily see that by taking on carbohydrate one is able to maintain blood glucose levels and keep performing exercise for another hour over that of a non-carbohydrate placebo. The maintenance of blood glucose is what enables us to keep the intensity of exercise going especially past the 2-hour point.

So, if you’re going to be racing for while or out riding for longer than 2 hours then you eating on the bike is incredibly important and influential on your ability to perform and should be considered.

How Much?

Knowing how much we can take on board during a race or per hour will be one of the most enlightening bits of information we can get.

The amount we take on during activity is dictated by three main things;

Maximal Absorption rates

Intensity of exercise

Duration of exercise

Item No. 1 – comes first as it dictates the rest. There is a fixed amount of glucose and fructose we can absorb per and anything over this will start to wreak havoc for your stomach.

Glucose – 1g/per min or 60g/per hour

Fructose – 0.5g/per min or 30g/per hour

Individually the amount you can take of each is shown but they both use multiple transporters or trains if you will, to pass through the intestine wall, meaning we can combine the two and have up to 90g/ per hour.

Item No. 2 – The intensity of exercise determines two things; the first is the higher intensity the higher requirement for carbohydrate to be able to maintain performance output. This is because stored carbohydrate in the form of muscle glycogen is used at a faster rate. So we require a higher intake of carbohydrate to maintain blood glucose (60-90g/per hour). BUT it should be noted the higher the intensity the less blood flows to the stomach potentially increasing GID this is trainable though and

And finally, No. 3 – Duration also plays a big role with the requirement for carbohydrate being less so when exercise lasts less than an hour (like a crit race) but if looking at an Ironman ranging between the elite at 8/9 hours and the amateur at possibly around 16 hours then eating become massively more important.

How Often?

I personally performed research into the frequency of carbohydrate between one big feed and 3 smaller feeds but overall performance was equivocal– some participants performed better or the same with no detriment. But we did see the trend of lower heart rate and rate of perceived exertion.

Off the back of this smaller feedings of 20g every 20minutes or 30g every 30minutes would be both convenient/manageable frequency to hit your target amounts

Variables you possibly hadn’t considered

Other factors that influence stomach issues are listed here and aren’t within the scope of this piece to elaborate on, so I will leave you with these until next time.

Knowing what foods are great and how to make them taste absolutely epic is so important in helping you improve and get stronger and faster.

Salmon is one of the most AWESOME foods out there that is really going to help make a difference in your diet. There is a lot you probably already know about salmon like how it’s high in protein which has a profound influence on being able to stimulate the creation of new muscle fibres. It also aids recovery, prevents the loss of lean tissue and helps you feel fuller for longer so you’re not reaching out for a few cheeky biscuits while at the office!

But there is more too about salmon, for example it is high in omega-3 essential fatty acids. Now omega 3’s gets shouted out quite a lot for being “good for you” but what exactly are they good for and how are they going to help you?

But what is even more relevant to us is that recent studies have shown that having Omega-3s with adequate amino acid intake increases muscle protein synthesis or the creation of new muscle! Which is great news to help aid you in recovery and building lean tissue. Try to have it at least 3 a week.

Here is an EPIC recipe you need to try to help get that salmon in your diet and wow your friends at dinner;

POWER! That ever sought after entity- legs like tree trunks and fast like Hermes god of speed, the desire of many a cyclist! Ha!! but seriously- when wanting to increase power in your cycling, carbohydrates are KING!

I work with top level athletes and it is imperative that they know the aims of each session so you know how to eat before, during and after that session. How you eat for it will change depending on the training session intensity and goal but when looking at power, high-intensity intervals and high watt sessions you need to be fuelled ready for that session.

Why? Going into a HARD session on low muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate) will impair your performance and reduce the potential gains and adaptions you would get, as remember you want to do your best and work your hardest for this session and not flounder early on.

This begs the question, “So, how should I eat for it?”

Well this is split into three categories; Timing, Type and Total.

Timing – As you can imagine this is massively important because if you’re eating your brown rice 1 hour before the session that precious rice won’t have fully broken down and be ready to use as energy in time for the planned session.

I recommend eating your pre-training carbohydrates 3-4 hours before, giving plenty of time for it to digest and be ready for use.

Sometimes this isn’t possible with busy schedules. If you have a morning session I’m sure you won’t want to wake up for a midnight feast! I would suggest for you to have your carb meal 30-45mins before your morning training though you would have a different type as mentioned below.

Type – Now you know when to have your carbohydrates you need to know what type you should be having!

If you have 3-4 hours before the session, then go for Low Glycaemic Index (GI) foods such as brown rice, wholemeal tortilla, oats, new potatoes, legumes and sweet potatoes.

But if you’re one of the early morning people then you need to go for moderate to high GI foods like, wholemeal bread, muesli, puffed rice, and fruit.

Total – Having sufficient carbohydrates will ultimately decide the effectiveness of the session as ingestion of too small an amount the effect won’t be significant. Whether you are training early or later on and have time for a low GI meal I would suggest consuming 1-1.2g carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight beforehand.

This figure isn’t gospel though. Think about the duration of your session- is it just 20mins of power training or is it longer? Are you doing a run after- for example if you’re training for a triathlon? In either of these cases the amount might need to be adjusted and you certainly don’t want to over consume on calories or their might be another muffin man down Drury Lane!

*depending on the length of the power session having a gel during might be worth it but I would possibly only use this over 25min intense sessions*

Here are four amazing carbohydrate foods that are perfect to have pre-workout and some suggestions as to how to incorporate them into your day with ease! Depending on your carbohydrate demands the amounts may need to vary.

Feeling light on the bike, and not carrying a few extra pounds can make the difference between feeling like a seal going uphill or soaring up it like an eagle.

Weight has a huge importance in cycling but also in health and finding your ideal riding weight is a sought-after goal by many avid cyclists.

Here are my top tips for helping you achieve that race weight.

Be in a calorie deficit – This might sound silly but if you’re ultimately not in a calorie deficit you will not drop the excess body fat/weight you want. Even if you cycle 20+ hours a week, if you have fast cake hands and you’re eating more than you’re burning it won’t come off.

Understand where you are – This could be one of the most crucial ones! If you don’t know what you’re having in general- let alone how much of it- how do you know what to change? Write a food diary for yourself for one week. You may be surprised as what you snack and just happened to forget about.

Be conservative – Knowing you need to be in a deficit is important and once you’ve seen how much you’re consuming you can start taking a few things out. Don’t drastically drop out all your food and have an apple a day- this might drop weight quickly but may not be all the right weight and you will find you may plateau quickly, will you then go to half an apple? Do it steadily and start with around 200 calories a day reduction and see how your weight is after one week.

Not all days are equal – Eat for the day’s activity rather than eating the same every day. If you’ve got a rest day and you’re going to have it nice and relaxed then you really don’t need to eat a huge amount and could probably have less because your energy expenditure is less. But if you’re going out for a big weekend ride with all your friends for 5 hours then you can definitely eat more calories.

Think weekly rather than daily – Carrying on from the previous point, rather than eating the same every day and focusing on daily intake think about your week and where you could do with more calories and less and plan accordingly. If you needed on average 2500Kcals a day that would be 17,500 a week. You could divide that weekly amount better in relation to your rides with less on lounging days and more on hard riding days.

How much should I lose – Your weekly weight loss should be around 1% of your bodyweight in pounds per week. This will change depending on how lean you are already. If you’re bigger you will find you have more scope to have a slightly bigger drop but if you’re on the leaner side aiming for 0.5% might be best. Why? Because the amount of muscle loss with bigger weight drops when you’re leaner can make up a larger percentage, so it’s better to go steady and lose

Keep Protein high – This is an obvious one but when in a calorie deficit and trying to drop weight it’s important to keep protein high to prevent muscle loss during this time and it’s also satiating, keeping you feeling fuller for longer! Aiming for around 1.8-2g/kg/bodyweight would be ideal in this situation.

Carbs for performance – Dropping all your carbs out when riding lots is a no-no. You will quickly lose all your energy and feel tired, lethargic and probably end up bingeing when someone brings some cake into the office. Instead of eating fewer carbs and riding worse, why not fuel for your workouts or rides so you can work as hard as you can, get the most out of that session and in turn burn more calories because you worked harder? One study suggests that ingesting carbs before working out increases the post-exercise “afterburn” effect more than the fasted state. That means more calories burned throughout the day, not just during your sweat session, though not fully conclusive, some food for thought there

Fats for weight loss? – Having a high fat, low carb diet for dropping body fat gets mentioned a lot but is it right? Fat has 9Kcal per gram whereas carbohydrate and protein are only 4Kcal per gram. So you could quite easily over consume on fat and end up not being in your calorie deficit anymore PLUS you could have twice as much protein and carbohydrate than you could fat if comparing equal amounts.

Think long term – In relation to fat for weight loss, and when comparing two identical, calorie deficit matched diets between low carb high fat and high carb low fat, the latter has been shown to work more effectively BUT – here’s the big “but” – does that work for you! If you’re riding lots and lots and training hard then realistically you’re going to struggle on the bike and in your sessions, you will underperform on your wattage and may get cravings causing you to ultimately binge two weeks down the line ruining your progress.

The best diet is the one you can stick to – The decision between eating more or less of carbohydrate or fat should be dependent on your activity and what you will actually stick to! If my special, amazing fantabulous diet here “diet special” would make you lose more weight but you absolutely hated it and felt rubbish on the bike, the likelihood is that you won’t stick to it. As long as you’re in a deficit and eating a well-balanced diet with lots of vegetables and enough protein to stop muscle loss you will lose fat.

Fasted riding – Research has demonstrated that fasted cardio does not increase fat burning over a 24-hour period. While your muscles adapt to using more fat when you exercise, you don’t actually lose more fat overall on the days that you exercise versus days that you don’t. If you’re wanting to increase your ability to utilise fat at a higher rate during exercise then it’s great but if you’re doing it just for increased fat loss you could be putting yourself through a harder session for no reason.

Tracking your food – If you’ve done a food diary and followed the tips above but are still struggling to lose the fat you want then here are some more tips. Keep another food diary for a week but actually weigh all your food or scan the barcode of the foods you’re having into a calorie tracking app which will give you an accurate measure of how much you’re exactly consuming. Then repeat the above tips of reducing your calories by about 200 a day or 1400Kcal over a week, keeping protein high and carbs adequate for training and see if you lose weight then.

Increase your non-exercise activity – What does that mean? Well if all your riding and any training your do is exercise activity we want to increase what isn’t that and our way of controlling it can quite easily be through step count. Setting yourself a step count means you will always have some level of calorie expenditure you can control and ensure you’re hitting, even on your rest days. This is a great way to increase your calorie deficit without reducing your food or adding another session in.

Use Volume – When dieting you’re going to be a in a calorie deficit and as such you can sometimes find yourself feeling pretty hungry. The best way to combat this is to have meals high in volume. Make the most of vegetables to create filling meals such as a noodle soup, tomato based curry sauce, stews and stir-fries. The number of calories in non-starchy veg, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and bell peppers is very small so why not make the most of it and eat more?

Here’s a recipe that makes a low calorie, low carb ice cream that can really fill you up and curb your sweet cravings.

Protein Frogurt

Ingredients;

200g Frozen raspberries – Or any berry

150g Fat free Greek yogurt

30g Whey protein

WHACK it all in a bowl

USE a hand blender to combine it all (this may take a few minutes, you can use a food processor but will need to stir frequently)

BLEND till smooth

DONE

Literally that easy and you will have made yourself a Frogurt/ ice cream style snack.

Time away can be daunting when training is important to you-whether it’s because you’re racing, taking part in a sportive or just wanting to keep up your bike fitness.

It’s not the end of the world though, as there are plenty of chances to keep yourself progressing even when away from your beloved bike;

Localgyms –check out a local gym as most have a bike or spin class you can use and they offer a reasonable rate.

Cross–training –This is a great chance to make the most of this and incorporate some running or swimming and use them to push yourself aerobically and anaerobically without the need of equipment.

Peaking – This is the principal of reaching the highest point in your training of maximal performance and then to taper off. This would normally include rest days which you could incorporate into your time off. Hit that peak before going away and then use that time off to fully relax.

Core & Flexibility – Easy to neglect these in favour of bike work but can be a huge factor in your riding. Core/trunk work is the basis of stability and posture on the bike and mobility enabling muscles to stay supple; enhance recovery and reduce risk of injury. Doing some pilates/body pump classes can be a great chance to work on these.

Here we have no miracle foods that will expend more calories or any of that nonsense just great foods that can help you stay full, healthy and preserve lean muscle while in a calorie deficit and trying to lose fat and then some foods that you may want to consider a bit more closely before diving into.

5 – “Fill yer boots”

Berries – Frozen berries offer a cheap way to add sweetness and micro-nutrients to many meal choices – a quick blast in the microwave and the addition of some stevia or honey makes for a nice compote on porridge.

Turkey Breast mince – An awesome way to add variety to your meals with some turkey burgers or kebab Koftes. Being both high in protein and low in fat, it provides and ideal way to get your daily protein intake in without adding too many calories.

Roast Veg – A tray of roast veg made up of bell peppers, onions, leeks, butternut squash and similar is a sure-fire way to fill you up, add fibre and more micro-nutrients to your diet for minimal calories.

Low-fat Yogurt – Ideal to have as a snack through the day. Add whey protein to bring the protein content up, yogurt is naturally high in casein a slow digesting protein that will make you feel fuller for longer. It’s low fat so the calories are down, just make sure you’re going O’naturale otherwise it could be laden with sugar.

Carbs – It’s an open title but carbs should never be cut out of your diet even when trying to lose fat. If you work hard on the bike you need carbohydrate to help fuel performance and recovery. Carbohydrate can be quite volumous (like rice and pasta) filling you up easily and are only 4kcal per gram whereas fat is 9kcal per gram. So as long as you’re still in a deficit make sure you’re still powering your performance.

5 – “To considers”

Alcohol – Everyone loves a good drink, and so do I! But as the wine flows your inhibitions begin to drop, the alcohol increases the levels of Ghrelin making you feel hungrier and the combination of both may lead to you consuming way more than just the couple of glasses.

Fruit Juice – Juicing and fruit juice are both tasty and yes nutritious but don’t offer much in the way of fulfilment and satiety especially when compared the eating an actual apple and carrot with the process of having to bite, chew and the fibre will be much more filling.

Sauces, condiments and sugar – It can be easily done adding several hundred calories to you day through a few dollops of mayo and a few sugars in your teas and coffees. Be wise and go for lighter options or without to save yourself from easy over consumption.

Full fat dairy – Full fat cheese, yogurt and normal butter all are massively high in calories and should be used sparingly or understand a large intake may mean having less earlier on or later that day. Try grating it to add volume and ability to get flavour without not enjoying your favourite cheese (not sure that’s one for the old Brie though haha).

Cooking Oils – Cooking with oil especially in excess can be an easy way to add un-warranted calories. Measure how much oil you actually use so you can account for it, maybe try wetting some kitchen roll and wiping the pan or opt for a low kcal spray oil.

Quinoa, those gorgeous delicate seeds which provide such a great source of nutrients to have in your diet! But we want to know what is so fantastic about these little morsels! Just checking with you all but Quinoa, pronounced ‘keen-wah’

Why is it great?

Quinoa is among the least allergenic of all the grains, making it a fantastic wheat-free choice.

Like buckwheat, quinoa has an excellent amino acid profile, as it contains all nine essential amino acids making it a complete-protein source and an awesome choice for vegans and vegetarians who may struggle to get enough protein in their diets.

Naturally high in dietary fibre, quinoa is a slowly digested carbohydrate, making it a fantastic low-GI option.

What does all this mean?

Well, the fact it is low GI and a high carb ratio mean that it’s a perfect choice to have with your pre-workout meal 2-4 hours before your session which is really effective when you have the time to digest it, like for those afternoon/evening rides.

If you didn’t know it can also be used to make a meal like porridge making it ideal for breakfast especially if mixed with yogurt it will be it high in protein and if you add some spice and berries you’re well on your way to something scrumptious.